Greater New Orleans

Residents row a boat past flooded homes along St. Ann St. in Madisonville as they assess the damage at their homes and businesses after Hurricane Isaac forced water from Lake Pontchartrain to back up into the Tchefuncte River adding to the river already inundated by rain water, Thursday August 30, 2012.
(Photo by Ted Jackson, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

With higher flood insurance rates "on the way," elected leaders must work with FEMA to ensure that new flood insurance rate maps for St. Tammany Parish accurately reflect the risks, said U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., during a town hall meeting Tuesday in Madisonville.

Even though some people will be paying more over the next few years, the "horror stories" about huge rate spikes -- such as a premium increase of $500 to $12,000 annually -- "are clearly untrue," Vitter said.

About 150 people gathered at Madisonville Town Hall to hear from Vitter, who fielded several questions about what's in store for the National Flood Insurance Program.

Last year, Congress approved the Biggert-Waters Act, which reauthorizes the program while bringing premium rate increases to property owners in flood-prone areas. It ends federal subsidies in an attempt to stabilize the program, which is $27 billion in debt.

While some owners with raised homes or in areas with improved flood protection could see their rates go down, residents of areas that have repeatedly flooded could see a big jump in their annual bill.

Vitter said local leaders in St. Tammany are working on flood protection projects aimed at protecting the most troubled "repetitive loss" areas with homes or businesses that have repeatedly been infiltrated in floods.

Meanwhile, the St. Tammany Parish flood insurance rate maps have not been finalized, Vitter said, and he will work with local officials and FEMA "to make sure those flood maps are accurate and not out of whack against us."

The Biggert-Waters Act extended the National Flood Insurance Program for five years through 2017. The program had operated under a series of stopgap extensions since 2008.

U.S. Sen. David VitterTed Jackson, The Times-Picayune archive

Vitter said the program had "to start to pay for itself in the future."

Starting Jan. 1, premium rates for subsidized nonprimary residences will increase 25 percent per year until they reflect a rate that is equivalent to the full flood risk. Later in 2014, rates will increase for additional properties including businesses, substantially damaged or improved properties, severe repetitive-loss properties, and any property that has incurred flood-related damages where claim payments exceed the fair-market value of the property.

Severe repetitive-loss properties are defined as single-family residences with four or more claims, each for more than $5,000 and cumulatively more than $20,000.

The new rates will automatically kick in with no phase-in period for flood-zone properties after a lapse in insurance coverage, a change in ownership, or substantial damage or improvement to the building.

During the meeting, several people asked Vitter about the future of flood protection projects around Lake Pontchartrain to help protect the north shore, such as building floodgates at the Chef and Rigolets passes.

Nick Chronis, who lives on the Mandeville lakefront, noted that his neighborhood has flooded three times in the past 8 years, most recently during Hurricane Isaac in August. His home is elevated by 15 feet, but the surrounding property has been damaged, he said.

"The Isaac prediction was that it wouldn't be bad at all. But where I live on the lakefront in Mandeville we had more water than we had in Katrina," Chronis told Vitter.

Chronis said the concerns expressed by him and his neighbors "seems to indicate to me the importance of this issue, and I hope that you ... take this type of information back to D.C."